sorry if this has been done before but I've got the sh%ts with wind knots, what brand(s) of braid does the forum recomend. cheers

Fireline. Made for spinning reels. Way less wind-knots than any other brand I have tried.

I use cheap Trade Me braid and if i am lucky i get a windknot every 100 or more casts. Took me less than 5 min to undo and start casting again. I also use short 1.5 meter leaders and don't put the knot through the guides. I dont think i will ever pay $100 or more for braid. That just me

Well Phil, 5 responses, 5 different answers.  Should be clear as mud now!!

Nomad wrote: Phill, Jerry Brown hollow 100lb, PE 7 is what I run on all my Stellas on the boat, its up to the task of day in day use, cast's like silk and is very easy to splice when you need to top up your reel. I would struggle to use anything else.

Is that a knot-less splice? how does that work & what sort of "knot strength" do you get out those?  I'll be going this route next time I respool me thinks.

i use whiplash 80lb , good braid cheapish thin ass got 600m on my 20k

wind knots typically occur when the braid leaving the spool is travelling faster than the braid exiting the tip. The oscillating/spiral effect of the braid coming off the spool lip causes the braid to throw loops, which travel down the rod ( through the guides) and because the line leaving the tip is travelling slower it causes the loops to bunch up behind it and the line wraps around a foot or the blank.

I've found the main causes of wind knots have come from me overloading the spool with line, and loose loops wound onto the reel. It's tempting to get that bit of extra line onto your spool but really you want to under fill your spool. Since using those angled casting guides thou, I've managed to pretty much eliminate them. I can just heave out the casts now with the confidence my beloved lure and me are not going to part ways.
Here's a sweet vid that demonstrates how wind knots are formed and how the angled guides help out a lot. Just go straight to 5:04 for the double foot guides.